HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



429 



with provifions after the term prefcribed by the king ; 

 fo that all but thofe who became, or feigned to be 

 Chriftians, were compelled to quit Spain, before Colum- 

 bus fet out to difcover America, as he did not weigh 

 anchor before the 3d of Auguft that year ; the French 

 evil, therefore, began in Europe before America was 

 difcovered. We find befides, among the poetry of Paci- 

 ficus Maximus, a poet of Afcoli, publiflied in Florence, 

 in 1479, fome verfes, in which he defcribes the gonor- 

 rhoea virulenta and venereal ulcers which he fuffered, 

 occafionedby his exceffes (u). 



Oviedo, not content with affirming, that the French 

 evil came from Hifpaniola, attempts to prove it. Behold 

 his firft proof. 1. That horrid complaint of the biles is 

 tured by the guaiacum better than any other medicine ; and 

 Divine mercy where it permits evil for our fins, provides 

 there, in compafflon to us, a remedy. If this argument 

 could hold, we fliould conclude, that Europe, rather 

 than Hifpaniola, was the native country of the French 

 evil : as many perfons know that the moft powerful re- 

 medy againft that diforder is mercury, which is common 

 in Europe, but has not been found in Hifpaniola, nor 

 known by the Indians : it is certain, that as foon as the 

 French difeafe appeared in Europe mercury was employ- 

 ed, and that Carpi, Torella, Vigo, Hoock, and many 

 other famous phyficians of that time, made ufe of it, 

 although it was difcredited afterwards by the indifcretion 

 of fome empyrics, and grew for fome time into difufe. 

 Guaiacum was not firft made ufe of until 151 7, twenty- 

 five years after the difcovery of the French evil. Sar- 



faparilla 



(«) Hecatalegii, lib. Hi. Ad Priapum et lib. viii. ad Mentulam. Wc do not 

 copy the verfes on account of their indecency. 



